Protective face shield



Feb. 16, 1954 T, MacLEAN 2,668,951

PROTECTIVE FACE SHIELD' Filed May 1 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 16, 1954MacLEAN PROTECTIVE FACE SHIELD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1951Patented Feb. 16, 1954 signor to Anglo-Iranian OilOompany Limited,London; England, a British joint-stock corporation Application May 1,1951-, SerlalsNo. 223,862

Glaims priority, application GreatBrita May 1, 1950 3 Claims.

This invention relates to protective helmets and more particularly tothe kind used by welders and the like.

Helmets used by welders normally comprise a head-engaging portion and adepending front portion embodying a dark colour filter glass whichprotects the eyes during actual welding. In the course of welding, scaleforms on the newly deposited metal and must be removed with a sealinghammer, which involves raising the facepiece of the helmet in order toobserve the work. At such times, the welder is supposed to wearprotective goggles, but most welders will not bother to do this for theshort time the descaling operation takes, with the result that damage tothe eyes from flying scale frequently occurs. The difficulty can beovercome by wearing glasses permanently inside the helmet but weldersobject to this since it is unnecessary while the helmet is in position,when it entails a certain amount of discomfort and means carrying on thewelding through an additional lens.

According to the present invention, an eyeshield is mounted within aprotective helmet in such manner that it is located above eye-level whenthe helmet is in the position of use but is brought into position infront of the eyes automatically when the helmet is raised.

The eye-shield conveniently consists of a pair of glasses that ispivotally mounted inside the helmet about the ends of the side arms.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of the helmet, Figures 3 and 4 arediagrammatic side elevations of the helmet with the face-shieldrespectively in the lowered and raised positions of use, and Figure 5 isa fragmentary detailed view of the eyeshield operating mechanism.

The helmet l comprises a crown portion ll integral with a face shield [2in which is incorporated a dark colour filter glass l3. The helmet I0 ispivotally mounted on a headband i l by means of threaded pins I carriedby the headband and passing through the helmet. Springs 16 are locatedbetween the headband and the helmet and wing nuts H are applied to theends of the threaded pins whereby the ease of relative movement betweenthe helmet and the headband may be adjusted. The headband is adjustablein length by virtue of the slots l8 and locking device l9.

A pair of glasses 20 are pivotally mounted on lugs 2| on the headband bymeans of pins 22 passed through the ends of the side arms 23, thepivotal axis of the glasses thus lying somewhat in front of and belowthe pivotal axis of the helmet. One of the side arms 23 is formed with anose portion 24 extending rearwardly of the pivotal axis of the glasses,said nose portion being formed with the surfaces 25 and 26. A pin 21 isprovided on the helmet extending inwardly thereof and is located so thatit cooperates with the surfaces 25 and 26 to effect raising and loweringof the glasses upon lowering or raising of the helmet respectively.Thus, as indicated in Figure 3, the helmet is in the lowered position ofuse, in which case the pin 21 is in contact with the surface 25 andmaintains the glasses in the raised position. When the helmet is raised,as indicated in Figure 4, the pin 2! moves in an are about the pivotalaxis of the helmet and thus engages the surface 26 to lower the glassesabout their pivotal axis. When the helmet is again lowered into positionin front of the face, the pin 27 engages the surface 25 and raises theglasses into the crown of the helmet.

I claim:

1. A protective helmet of the kind comprising a head-engaging portionand a face-shield which is pivotally attached to the head-engagingportion, comprising an eyeshield, side arms to the eyeshield, the sidearms being pivoted near their ends to the head-engaging portion, and thepivotal axis of the side arms being in front of and below that of theface-shield, a rearward extension to one of the side arms beyond itspivotal axis and a pin on the face-shield engageable with said rearwardextension when the faceshield is in the lowered position in such manneras to maintain the eyeshield raised within the face-shield above theeyes of the wearer, the pin moving out of engagement with the rearwardextension of the side arm when the face-shield is raised a given amountso as to allow the eye shield to move downwards under its own weightuntil brought to rest by the bridge of the nose of the wearer and to bemoved upwards by the wearer independently of the face-shield.

2. A protective helmet according to claim 1, in which the head-engagingportion is provided with downward extensions on either side, the sidearms of the eyeshield being pivoted to said downward extensions wherebywhen the eyeshield is in position in front of the eyes its side arms aresubstantially horizontal.

3. A protective helmet of the kind comprising a head-engaging portionand a face-shield which is pivotally attached to the head-engagingportion for movement between a raised position and a lowered position,comprising an eyeshield, side arms to the eyeshield, the side arms beingpivoted near their ends to the head-engaging portion, and the pivotalaxis of the side arms being in front of and below that of theface-shield, a rearward extension to one of the side arms beyond itspivotal axis and a pin on the face-shield so located as to be disengagedfrom said extension in the raised position of said face-shield and to beengageable with said rearward extension only after a given angularmovement of said faceshield from its raised position toward its loweredposition, for depressing said extension when the face-shield is furthermoved toward the lowered position thereby to raise the eyeshield and tomaintain the eye shield raised within the face- References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,398,269Young Apr. 9, 1946 2,419,649 Lieg Apr. 29, 1947 2,440,596 Anderson Apr.2'7, 1948 am we

